Finishing the Brickwork

5th April - 9th April 2021

After Easter, I went back to finish the brickwork.  The templates were more solid and allowed me to finish up the mortaring and allow things to dry.  It took quite a while to get thru all six panels but the final result was satisfying. The only problem was that the templates were perfect for getting the mortar in between the bricks but lousy in getting the space between the bricks and the wooden facing.  I had millimeter gaps on each side of the brick panels. So, I mulled it over and came up with a solution of using a sac à poche - you know, those pastry bags used to apply frosting or cream - and I created one with a zip-loc bag.   

Panels bricked and drying.

The unsightly gaps that needed filling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I made some mortar mix and filled the bag then cut a small hole cut at the bottom. I was able to squeeze out what I needed to fill in the spaces that were the most unattractive.  I used my Exacto knife to shove the mix in the gaps and a T-pin to flatten out the mortar and pack it in.  It worked like a charm!

Filling the Zip-loc bag with mortar.

Stuffing the mortar in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The little T-pin to pack mortar in the gaps.

I left the mortar again to dry and went back the next day to sand down any areas that were not to my liking.  I used a face mask during all of this work since the warning label on the mortar mix was sufficiently nasty. 

Thank god that right now I had an extra KN95 mask in my house (due to all this virus stuff - our city has supplied us with many masks including a few of these. Since I’m still furloughed, I have been using my own home made masks to go out on dog walking or grocery shopping. I was saving these KN95 ones for up close contacts in a work environment. So, I am using one for this work today.) After sanding things down, I sponged everything again and let things dry. Next day I came up and used a soft cloth to dust the bricks down and improve the overall surface removing the streaks left from the damp sponging the day before. Still needed a mask to do this work too. I scraped back some of the mortar that was applied too far over some of the brickwork - then dusted and cleaned my work space for the next phase -

Cleaned up and ready for ageing.

To age and give the brickwork some character.
First though, I’ll need to do some research into methods…. in the meantime I got my first vaccine! Hoorah! Bout time. Oh, well, Italians are not known for their logistical skills. Still, they do try.